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Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses in 2016

Now that the New Year is here, business owners should be thinking about new marketing strategies. Consider these four strategies from OutboundEngine.com.

1. Think Mobile
If you’re not thinking about how customers see you on mobile devices, you need to start now. Don’t believe us? The numbers speak for themselves.

Internet users spend 51 percent of their time browsing on mobile versus 42 percent on a desktop or laptop.

Nearly 75 percent of Americans own at least one smartphone, and for many, it’s their main entry point to the Internet.

Facebook, the world’s most heavily trafficked social media site, reports that a whopping 38 percent of its users are mobile only.

2. Get Creative with Email
Don’t let having a routine stop you from getting creative with your marketing strategy. You might send emails to specific customers on specific days using specific language, and that’s all well and good, but why not branch out and try something new? Testing out unconventional email subject lines is a great strategy to apply in the new year because it’s easy to execute, allows for simple analysis (how was your open rate on this email versus that one?) and costs absolutely nothing.

3. Pay to Play
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and a number of other social media sites now offer enhanced advertising options to people who are willing to put their money where their ads are. It seems simple enough: Pay the social network a few dollars and your company’s page, post, tweet or whatever you want to boost will get an increased reach. But what many business owners don’t realize is that paid ads on social are one of the fastest growing marketing channels available to them, and they ought to jump on board.

4. Share More Video
Believe it or not, about 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. That’s 18,000 minutes of video in a single day! Video content has quickly become one of the most readily consumed forms of media on the Internet, with social networks like Facebook and Twitter both adding native video and autoplay to their platforms. It’s no wonder, then, that advertisers are quickly jumping on board and pushing video as the dominant medium for grabbing consumers’ attention. What does this mean for you? Get on the video wagon! Uploading your own content or sharing third party links are great ways to incorporate video, stay relevant and keep your brand top of mind. You can consider starting a vlog (video blog), sharing tutorials, or even look into video advertisements.